It was there that we huddled around a horrible black Formica dinner table with tubular metal legs to eat and kibbitz next to the stove, on which a pot of tomato sauce and a pot of chicken soup often sat side by side.

He calls this year's typically jolly version "Swing in the Holiday," a title stressing one aspect of his musical inclinations and assiduously avoiding mention of Christmas, because -- Jewish with what could be called a predisposition to the kibbitz -- he celebrates Christmas and Hannukah by honoring and kidding both holidays.